It's long been possible to receive important emergency alerts on your Android device, and with the introduction of the 8.1 developer preview the settings have been given a bit of a makeover. This one can definitely be filed with the other minor but useful dev preview changes. As well as a reorganization of the alerts section in the settings, there's also a history list so you can see previous alerts, including those you've accidentally dismissed.

You'll find the menu in Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > Emergency Alerts. In Android 8.0 Oreo, the title was 'Mobile broadcast settings' and it looked as it did below (left). In the Pixel 2s on 8.0 and now any device running 8.1, the title has been changed to 'Emergency alerts' and the order of the toggles has been changed. More importantly, there's also a new option to view 'Emergency alert history,' which is a welcome addition.

The screen is blank right now, as there hasn't been an alert yet (above left), but you get the idea. It's also worth noting that if you want to disable alerts entirely, that's only possible with developer options switched on (above right), just as it was in 8.0 and before. There are also some further options down below for developers to play with.

Comments

I know I used the history function on my Pixel XL (1) on 8.0. I only just got 8.1 but I looked at an alert history weeks ago.

David S.

No, it isn't new. It used to be on 8.0 through
Android Messages>Settings>Advanced>Wireless Alerts. Used it on Pixel 8.0.

Rob

The History section is new, the author claims. Are you sure it was there before? Perhaps only on Pixels

David S.

Maybe, I do kbow other phones have a section like this such as the Xiaomi Mi A1 on 7.1, but don't know if it shows only active ones or history. On 8.0 pixels it showed history.

Scott Scrivens

You're not wrong. But this is new in Settings, outside of Android Messages.

Rob

I feel this is one of the areas where the US has come a lot longer than other countries. I'm in Europe and I have never seen these alerts in use. So the question is, do you people in the US see these alerts from time to time, like missing child alerts or storm warnings? I wonder if the history list will be synced when you set up a new device (device settings in Google Drive --> Backups)

Aaron Powell

We mainly just see missing child (Amber) alerts. Nearly everyone I know has these turned off because they are very annoying when they go off. Also, issuing an Amber alert for all of Texas means most all of them I have ever seen we a 4-9 hour drive from where I am. Texas is massive.

Rob

You say they are annoying. If they make sound, can't you just turn sound off? Only vibrate? Or in what way are they annoying?

Dr.RTFM

You can only control the sound at the global level, not at the alert-type level: as in, maybe I want it to be loud and annoying if it is a rare emergency that I need to hear about; I don't want it loud and annoying for something that is an amber alert, even if it is in my area; that said, it is used in a stupid way, as LakeCowPig indicates, such that amber alerts for missing children have no particularly useful geographic entity; I'm in Ontario (which makes Texas look small ;) and we get amber alerts at the provincial level, so the result is anyone hears it once and they turn it off. (I got one that was a 15 hour drive away; yeah, real useful guys ....)

Sruly J

When I was still running 8.0, I was able to view alert history dating back to earlier this year (mainly weather related).

So like others said, the history isn't new, especially since going to advance settings from some texting apps (Android Messages and others) would show the emergency alert history.